It is now more than four years since Themes for Silcaville album was first released, and five since I began work on it and I wanted to commemorate it and revisit that world a little bit. For those who haven’t heard it, it is a soundtrack to an imaginary sci-fi noir film. It’s set in the fictional city of Silcaville and has a classic noir crime mystery to it. It was released on cassette, befitting its 80s feel. In many ways, I think of this as the first time I really found my feet as a solo artist. It is concept driven and delivered whole as a piece of art. So, these 10 artworks are an extension and a companion to the original piece.
When I was composing the album, I created a story board that I used to help craft the album. I had scenes that I wanted to depict, and I took a lot of photographs of a deserted Canary Wharf during winter 2020 just before the second lock down. I then matched those images to story ideas or used them to create scenes and that really set the tone of the album. I had figured if Godard could use La Defense for Alphaville, then I could use Canary Wharf as Silcaville. Walking around taking images in the dark winter nights I soaked up this crepuscular and I think that glacial cold infects the album.
I wanted the story location to be a futuristic port city and obviously Canary Wharf matches that but it also has a sort of liminal status being surrounded on three sides by the Thames, and with canals, wharves and locks further dividing up the pockets of land. It was both perfect and also crucially in walking distance for the research. Port cities also have that extra tension of impermanence as people come and go. This makes them a perfect place for a noir mystery story, because the killer or killers could have escaped and our hero might be chasing phantoms. Then with its modernist architecture of glass, it worked with the sci-fi idea. The name Silcaville comes from the idea of a city of glass: Silica-ville. Shortened and joined as if a syllable has been washed away by the tide.
loading...Some of the artworks in this collection were made using images taken on those walks and one of the things that struck me as I returned to the images to make these cards was how much the music owes to the original mood of the photographs.
However, more observant readers might have noted that above I said, “Some” not “all”. The others are a mix of different photographs. Some using me dressed as ‘The Stranger’, who is the story’s hero. A noir detective in the Phillip Marlowe style, worn out, cynical, tough and tired, though fundamentally a good guy. I created the image by dressing up with a military greatcoat and hat and then positioning lights to project the shadow onto my blinds. I was able to use take multiple photographs this way with different poses and positions. One of these images has become a sort of Pocket Lint logo, which, I guess, is testament to the importance I attach to this project. Card three, “Dreaming” though has a different story. This is perhaps the most interesting image. So, the shape of the building here is part of a skyline I saw and photographed. I used the photograph to create an image I could trace onto card. I then cut out a stencil of the traced city skyline, and threw it away. I used the frame that was left to create a shadow onto a wall in a dark room, my bathroom as it has no window. Using my phone torch to create this hazy image, I then photographed it. Again, it is me playing around with shadows. This idea of something being visible but not present. I think I must have been trying to make something quite German Expressionist and clearly had a lot of time on my hands due to lockdown. Why make something so complicated for such a basic image? Why not!
The other thing I was leaning on in creating this collection was the idea of the story as part of a graphic novel. I don’t want to give away the whole narrative, but as with the music, I would say that the images can add to the story. It is for the reader to fill in the gaps as they chose. I’m not doing everything for you!
To fully appreciate the album, I would say open a bottle of something nice, put on the album, have a look at the images and see where your brain takes you. Most of all, this is an album that needs listening to in its entirety and the artworks are the same. An archipelago, not 10 separate islands.
So, welcome to Silcaville, have a walk around, enjoy the views and watch out for the guild!
